Three things you might not know about Tedy Bruschi:
1. After Bruschi鈥檚 senior season at Roseville High School, the hometown newspaper selected Aaron McDonald as the area鈥檚 football Player of the Year. McDonald, of Bakersfield High School, is the father of UA All-America point guard Aari McDonald.
2. Bruschi鈥檚 father, Tony Bruschi, was a football coach at San Francisco鈥檚 Balboa High School and Poly High School, who named his second son after his father, Theodorico.
3. Bruschi鈥檚 only scholarship offers were from BYU, Washington State, San Jose State and 蜜柚直播. Most of the Pac-10 powers of the day considered Bruschi too short 鈥 6 feet 1 inch 鈥 to play on the defensive line. Bruschi declined BYU鈥檚 offer to be an inside linebacker. The leading recruit of 蜜柚直播鈥檚 Class of 1991 was considered to be lineman Warner Smith of San Manuel High School.
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The first time I became aware of Bruschi was early in 蜜柚直播鈥檚 Camp 蜜柚直播 in mid-August, 1991. At lunch one day, UA coach Dick Tomey walked through the cafeteria line and joined three reporters at a nearby table.
Someone asked what player got Tomey鈥檚 attention during the morning practice.
鈥淭edy Bruschi,鈥 said Tomey. 鈥淗e鈥檚 got a motor that just goes and goes. He鈥檚 going to play right away.鈥
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Tedy Bruschi became a defensive force during his time anchoring 蜜柚直播鈥檚 鈥淒esert Swarm鈥 defense in the 1990s.
Indeed, two weeks later, Bruschi was listed as a starting defensive lineman for 蜜柚直播鈥檚 season opener at Ohio State. But Bruschi suffered nerve damage in his neck, and his college debut was delayed until Game 4, against Long Beach State. He came off the bench and made seven tackles.
A star was born.
Bruschi, who is No. 31 on our list of 蜜柚直播鈥檚 Top 100 Sports Figures of the last 100 years, is now in the College Football Hall of Fame. He was a two-time consensus All-American, tied the career NCAA record for sacks (55) and went on to play in the NFL Pro Bowl and help the New England Patriots win three Super Bowls.
If anyone saw that coming, or even close, it might have been Tomey and his assistant coach, Marc Lunsford, who was assigned to recruit the allegedly too-short, too-small lineman from Roseville, California.
When the Sacramento Bee newspaper published a feature story about Bruschi during the 1990 high school playoffs, it wrote that Lunsford sent Bruschi a postcard in the summer of '90 with a simple message:
鈥淏e a Wildcat and be a star.鈥
鈥淭he thing with Tedy and a lot of football players is, you can鈥檛 measure their heart and desire,鈥 Tomey told me when Bruschi was voted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2013. 鈥淭he year we recruited Tedy, we brought 63 players to campus. You just wondered if he could play as hard, as often, at this level, as he did in high school. He did. He had such great ball-awareness. You can鈥檛 teach that.鈥
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蜜柚直播鈥檚 Tedy Bruschi makes a beeline for ASU quarterback Jake Plummer during the teams鈥 1995 rivalry game.
Bruschi became the face of Tomey鈥檚 鈥淒esert Swarm鈥 era, the personality of what was, over three seasons, 1992-94, probably the leading defense in college football. In the 1994 issue of Sports Illustrated that featured 蜜柚直播 on its cover 鈥 鈥淩ock Solid,鈥 it wrote 鈥 Bruschi was pictured inside riding a small scooter on campus.
It wasn鈥檛 a staged photo. For two years, Bruschi got from class to class riding a cheap scooter, emblematic of his blue-collar approach to football.
After he became famous, Bruschi ditched the scooter, but not for a shiny new sports car paid for by his parents or via a loan based on potential NFL earnings. He began to drive a dark blue 1967 Buick that his brother, Tony, had given him. It was the most famous car on campus.
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Tedy Bruschi returned to 蜜柚直播 in April 2021 to serve as a guest coach in the Wildcats鈥 spring game.
That was Bruschi, who gave 蜜柚直播 as much as he took. He even married Sahuaro High School grad Heidi Bomberger, who was a standout on the UA volleyball team.
Years later, when I asked Lunsford what he saw in Bruschi that Top 25 programs did not see, Lunsford said 鈥渜uickness, football sense and balance. I went to one of his high school track meets and he was the most coordinated shot putter and discus thrower on the field. He put all of his energy into it. You could see how much it mattered to him. He was such a winner.鈥